Indian Mobile Users Could Soon Watch Videos Without Internet Using ‘Direct-to-Mobile’ Tech

New Delhi: Imagine streaming your favourite shows or live cricket matches on your phone, but without needing a SIM card or even an internet connection. Sounds futuristic, right? Well, it might become a reality soon in India thanks to a revolutionary homegrown technology called Direct-to-Mobile (D2M) broadcasting.

Addressing a Broadcasting Summit, Apurva Chandra, Information and Broadcasting Secretary, announced upcoming trials in 19 cities for the home-grown D2M technology. Chandra emphasized the importance of reserving the 470-582 MHz spectrum for this emerging technology.

Trials for D2M technology were previously conducted in Bengaluru, Kartavya Path, and Noida last year. Chandra highlighted that a 25-30% shift of video traffic to D2M could alleviate congestion in 5G networks, fostering the nation’s digital evolution and democratizing content delivery.

With 80 crore smartphones in the country and 69% of content accessed in video format, the D2M technology aims to address the challenge of network congestion caused by heavy video usage. Developed by Saankhya Labs and IIT Kanpur, D2M utilizes terrestrial telecommunications infrastructure and assigned spectrum to transmit video, audio, and data signals directly to compatible mobile and smart devices.

Chandra emphasized that the D2M technology could potentially reach nearly 8-9 crore “TV Dark” homes, providing access to video content. Out of the 280 million households in the country, only 190 million have television sets. The adoption of D2M technology, with the capacity to reach over a billion mobile devices, is expected to bring transformative benefits, including cost reductions in data transmission, improved network efficiency, and the establishment of a nationwide emergency alert system.